The SIEGE OF FORT OF MACKINAC was one of the first engagements of the
War of 1812War of 1812 . A British and Native American force captured the island
soon after the outbreak of war between Britain and the
United StatesUnited States .
Encouraged by the easy British victory, more Native Americans rallied
to their support. Their cooperation was an important factor in several
British victories during the remainder of the war.

The British commander in Upper
CanadaCanada , Major General
Isaac BrockIsaac Brock ,
had kept the commander of the post at St. Joseph Island, Captain
Charles Roberts , informed of events as war appeared increasingly
likely from the start of 1812. As soon as he learned of the outbreak
of war, Brock sent a canoe party led by the noted trader William McKay
to Roberts with the vital news, and orders to capture Mackinac.

McKay reached St. Joseph Island on 8 July. With the assistance of the
North West Company, Roberts immediately began to collect a force
consisting of three men of the
Royal ArtilleryRoyal Artillery , 47 British soldiers
of the 10th Royal Veteran Battalion (which Roberts later described as
being "debilitated and worn down by unconquerable drunkenness" ), 150
Canadian or métis (part-Indian) fur traders and voyageurs , 300
OjibwaOjibwa (Chippewa) or Ottawas who were at the island to trade skins,
and 110
SiouxSioux ,
MenomineeMenominee and Winnebago who had been recruited by
Indian agent Robert Dickson from present-day
WisconsinWisconsin .

As preparations for the expedition proceeded, Roberts received
successive orders from Brock to cancel, and then to reinstate, the
attack on Mackinac. Colonel Edward Baynes , the
Adjutant General for
all British forces in Canada, also sent orders for Roberts to
concentrate on defending St. Joseph Island. However, on 15 July,
Roberts received further orders from Brock which allowed him to use
his own discretion. Fearing that the Indians would drift away if they
were not allowed to attack, Roberts immediately set out. His force
was embarked in the armed schooner Caledonia belonging to the North
West Company, seventy war canoes and ten bateaux .

CAPTURE OF MACKINAC

Fort MackinacFort Mackinac was sited on a limestone ridge which overlooked the
harbour at the south-eastern end of the island. The American garrison
consisted of 61 artillerymen under Lieutenant
Porter Hanks with seven
guns, although only one of these, a 9-pounder, could reach the
harbour. There were other weaknesses; the garrison relied for fresh
water on a spring outside the fort, and the position was overlooked by
a higher ridge less than a mile away.

The
United StatesUnited States Secretary of War
William EustisWilliam Eustis , who was
apparently preoccupied with financial economies, had sent no
communications to Hanks for several months. He sent word of the
declaration of war on 18 June to the commanders in the northwest by
ordinary rate post. The Postmaster at
Cleveland, OhioCleveland, Ohio realised the
importance of the news and hired an express rider to take it to
Brigadier General
William HullWilliam Hull , who was advancing on Detroit , but it
was too late to save both Hull and Hanks from being taken by surprise
by the outbreak of hostilities.

Though he was unaware of events elsewhere, Hanks had heard rumours of
unusual activity at St. Joseph Island. He sent a fur trader named
Michael Dousman , who held a commission as an officer in the militia ,
to investigate. Dousman's boat was captured by the advancing British
force, and Dousman apparently quickly changed sides.

Having learned from Dousman that the Americans at Mackinac were
unaware of the outbreak of war, Robert's force landed at a settlement
later named
British LandingBritish Landing on the north end of the island, 2 miles
(3.2 km) away from the fort, early on the morning of 17 July. They
quietly removed the village's inhabitants from their homes, dragged a
6-pounder cannon through the woods to a ridge above the fort and fired
a single round before sending a message under a flag of truce,
demanding the surrender of the fort.

Hanks's force was surprised and was already at a tactical
disadvantage. The flag of truce had been accompanied by three of the
villagers, who greatly exaggerated the number of Indians in Roberts's
force. Fearing a massacre by the Indians, Hanks capitulated without a
fight. The garrison of the fort was taken prisoner but was released on
giving their parole not to fight for the remainder of the war.

AFTERMATH

The island's inhabitants were made to swear an oath of allegiance to
the
United KingdomUnited Kingdom or leave within a month. Most took the oath.
Roberts arrested three deserters from the British Army and twenty
alleged British citizens. There was no looting, although Roberts
expropriated the goods in the
United StatesUnited States storehouses and a
government trading post and purchased several bullocks to feed the
Indians. The British abandoned their own fort at St. Joseph Island and
concentrated their forces at Mackinac Island.

Of the Indians present, the Ottawa contingent had apparently remained
aloof from the others. They and most of the Chippawas later
dispersed. At least some of the Western Indians proceeded south to
join the tribes with
TecumsehTecumseh at
Fort AmherstburgFort Amherstburg . The mere threat of
their arrival prompted the American Brigadier General Hull to abandon
his invasion of Canadian territory and retreat to Detroit on 3 August.

The news of the loss of Mackinac prompted several Indian tribes (such
as the Wyandots near Detroit) who had been friendly to the Americans
or neutral, to rally to the British cause. Their hostility influenced
the U.S. surrender at the
Siege of DetroitSiege of Detroit shortly afterwards.
Lieutenant Hanks was killed by a cannon shot at Detroit shortly before
the surrender, while awaiting a court martial for cowardice.